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FIFA claims harassment of Infantino by UEFA
AP •  September 30th, 2026 12:40 am
FIFA has claimed in court that its president Gianni Infantino is being harassed by UEFA | Photo: EPA
FIFA lawyers have claimed UEFA is harassing Gianni Infantino, in a court filing urging a Florida judge to deny the European soccer body's request for evidence discovery about a World Cup private investor plan that has rocked the sport.
The 21-page filing to the court in the Southern District of Florida late on Monday (Tuesday NZ time), and seen by The Associated Press, said UEFA was wrong to suggest the FIFA president sought to profit personally from the project that provoked a furore in July and was dropped within days.
UEFA later asked for authorisation of discovery with three courts — including in Manhattan against Josh Kushner's New York-based investment firm, and Miami, where FIFA has an office base — aiming to help prepare a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland for financial mismanagement.
"UEFA's conduct demonstrates that its (court filing) was made in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment," lawyers for FIFA argue in the document.
The filing also notes the November 18 deadline for potential candidates to enter the FIFA presidential election contest next March in Morocco, where Infantino plans to seek a fourth and final term in office through 2031.
Pressure has mounted on Gianni Infantino over his controversial World Cup sell-off plan | Photo: AP
"This court should reject any attempt to influence FIFA's presidential election based on these grounds," FIFA lawyers wrote in the filing.
UEFA led a global backlash to the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan and is preparing an election challenge to Infantino, who had seemed set to win unopposed until creating the biggest crisis of his near 11-year presidency.
Infantino's plan was to create the FFE subsidiary and sell at least 20 per cent of nonprofit FIFA's future commercial rights for $4.2 billion to investors led by Josh Kushner, the brother of US president Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
UEFA's court filings one month ago claimed the value was a "fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit," amid speculation he eyed a CEO-like role at the subsidiary on a higher salary than his current $6 million presidential pay package.
FIFA lawyers claimed UEFA "falsely asserts that Mr Infantino sought to have a personal financial interest in the FFE project".
The secretive plan was revealed July 28 by media reports and led FIFA's now-ousted chief operating officer Kevin Lamour to criticise Infantino's leadership. The FIFA boss's senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs partner, also resigned in protest at the deal he said was bad for soccer.
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